She-Hulk (lost production material of unreleased live-action Marvel film; 1995)

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The film's poster.

Status: Lost

She Hulk is an unreleased 1990s live-action film based on the Marvel superheroine of the same name (also known as Hulka) and was to have been played by Brigitte Nielsen with Larry Cohen as the director.

Production

The character of She-Hulk was first introduced in Savage She-Hulk #1 (1980) and made her television debut in the eleventh episode of the very short-lived animated series The Incredible Hulk (1982-83). In the end of the 1980s, Bill Bixby, the original actor of Bruce Banner for The Incredible Hulk TV series, teamed up with the television department of independent production company New World Pictures to produce a series of telefilms that picked up where the series left off after its cancellation in 1982 and played a lot more with the Marvel crossover appeal that. the original show always lacked. The third and final installment, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, was to feature a major appearance from She-Hulk, though its unknown what actress was considered to play the part. Ultimately, she was cut out of the final draft for the film, though She-Hulk's story in the entertainment industry did not end there.

Despite the generally poor reception of DotIH, New World Productions did not want to throw the towel in just yet as they still owned the rights to Marvel characters and sure enough, Marvel Comics ended up buying New World's "Family Filmworks" division. In 1991, work began on a potential She-Hulk TV series with Jill Sherman Donner, writer and producer of several episodes from the original Hulk series, hired to produce it. After many rough drafts were rejected, she completed the first draft for the pilot known as "Metamorphosis." In the script, assistant district attorney Jennifer Walters is haunted by the murder of her parents during childhood and vows to prove that a respected businessman is actually a criminal mastermind. She takes a forced vacation to the Caribbean where she runs into Bruce Banner, who is revealed to have faked his death and is now living as a pool boy. While cousins in the original comics, in this film, both Banner and Walters aren't as they have somewhat of a romantic tension. Upon getting shot by a hitman hired by the evil businessman, Banner's doctor friend convinces her to give Jennifer a blood transfusion that ultimately transforms her into the She-Hulk; a plot-point that was borrowed from Death where Bruce gives a Russian spy a blood transfusion. Unlike the comics however, where Jennifer was able to retain her intelligence while transforming, this movie's version would've had her acting the same as Ferrigno's Hulk. Filming began in the Virgin Islands in 1991 with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno reprising their legendary roles as the scientist and his inner-demon. The biggest problem with developing the She Hulk TV series was finding the right actress to play the leading part. At first, Mitzi Kapture was hired though ABC decided a low-profile actress was not fit for the main part (eventually, Mitzi landed the lead role for Silk Stockings). They would later consider Melissa Gilbert, best known as Laura Ingall from Little House on the Prairie, but her lack of interest in the superhero genre further strained production and was ruled out. The last person to audition for Hulka was volleyball player Gabrielle Reece and according to Sherman Donner, her portrayal of She-Hulk would've had golden skin instead of green, as she considered "not pretty"; with bright red hair and green eyes also included. Bradford May, a cinematographer for movies like the Darkman sequels and The Monster Squad, was chosen to helm the project, though so much production money was spent on finding the actress to play Jennifer Walters that the production company lost patience and cancelled filming. None of the footage that was shot in the Caribbean has ever resurfaced.

With Bill Bixby's death in 1993, so came the end of the She-Hulk TV pilot. Though New World decided to take one last stab at the green superheroine, this time for the big screen. Carl Gottlieb, screenwriter of the first three Jaws movies, was hired to write the script and B-movie director Larry Cohen was put in the director's chair. Hired to play Jennifer Walters this time was Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen, best known for the lead role of Red Sonja. Photo sessions were taken with the actress where she dressed up as Jennifer Walters in a red lawyer's coat, and her superheroine persona with an all-green leather jumpsuit and green highlights in the face with pale-green makeup. These were done in the hopes of publicizing the project to attract investors. The exact plot of the film is unknown, though it could've taken a few cues from the "Metamorphosis" pilot originally scripted in 1991.

Cancellation

While production got farther than most scrapped Marvel films, She-Hulk was never released or finished and though no reasons have been given as to why, it might have been due to the less-than-stellar reputation that Marvel-based movies had at the time (ie. Howard the Duck, Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four). Other reasons may have been that the investors were uninterested in the publicity stills and that, supposedly, the studio could not afford the budget to make the flying car that She-Hulk drove in the comics. Its unlikely that any footage or a trailer was ever filmed and the only remaining pieces of production memento include a poster that went for sale on eBay and publicity stills of Jennifer’s two alter-egos. On November 12, 2020, the green leather costume that Brigitte Nielsen wore in the photo shoots resurfaced in the Icons & Legends of Hollywood auction held by Profiles in History. It went for a bid between $800-$1,200, though its unknown if anyone actually walked home with it. Given that most of the items in the catalog were identified as coming from Planet Hollywood’s collection, its possible that the costume came into possession of the theme restaurant chain. It's worth noting that one of the four celebrity founders of Planet Hollywood was Sylvester Stallone, who was once married to Brigitte Nielsen.

On December 10, 2020, Marvel Studios announced they were starting production on a comedy series for Disney+ named She-Hulk with Tatiana Maslany set to play Jennifer Walters, along with Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth set to reprise their roles as Hulk and the Abomination respectively. It is set to be released sometime around 2022 and Kevin Feige has stated that she will appear in future MCU movies.

Gallery

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  Publicity stills taken of Brigitte Nielsen as her characters.

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  The green leather jumpsuit that Brigitte Nielsen wore in the photo shoots of She-Hulk.

External Links

• Wikipedia page for She-Hulk.
• Was Gabriel Reece Cast as the She Hulk in a Failed She-Hulk TV Pilot?
• Hulka (the movie we'll never see)